Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Isn't there suppose to be a second chapter?

Is there an expected release date? No.

I am hoping to start focusing a bit more time on modding soon, in all likelihood I expect building to increase again in the fall. There are just too many things happening in the summer with family, work and all those water related activities, its hard to commit the time to building.

Chapter 1 Update:

I have posted what should be the final update for chapter 1. The patch.hak may have a couple of files added if players encounter weird stuff, but I don't see any issues arising. Several changes to the fog of war was made, in particular it was changed to passive so the fog will always clear. I like the clear feat and the idea of mapping (as the system was designed by Lance Botelle ), but due to player feedback as well as my testing it didn't necessarily fit my campaign. The update also includes improved ooze scripts, they use some code that Lance Botell provided to to weaken weapons and armor before destroying them. So instead of having the +2 mace destroyed it will turn into a non enchanted mace then precede to drop in penalties, at -5 the weapon/armor will be destroyed.

The Community Project:

I have contributed 2 quest areas to the community project. Both have gone through beta testing and just need some minor updating that will happen later once the project gets closer to consolidating the individual modules. They were both a fun side project and helped the development of Risen Hero. Chapter 2 will include a larger ooze dungeon, which will be different from the community project, but this allowed to test the ooze design, scripts and challenge. The other community area was more an experiment with scripting and creating non-combat puzzles. While the same puzzle will not be present in chapter 2 some of the general ideas or scripting base codes may be reused.

So what is the status of chapter 2?

Plot:
  • The 2 hub areas, or base of operations, have been completed
  • The general plot line has been completed, a couple of holes still need to be completed.
  • Side quest: Several side quest for the swamp area have been created and completed. A couple of side quest have been designed but need to be created in the toolset. Horgath is one of these sidequest, he was introduced in the Halloween Project and appears in both the SOZ expansion and the Community Project, the side quest in Risen Hero will conclude his story. Additional side quest are also added during area and conversation creation, somehow this just happen mysteriously when sitting at the toolset.
  • Currently I am working on the plot NPC conversations in these hub areas. This is a large undertaking, especially since chapter 2 be a more open play style. In short order the player could engage the final boss, most likely with disastrous results.
Area Design:
  • There will be 4 area groups: The hub areas, western areas, eastern areas and a swamp area.
  • Currently hub areas are mostly completed, tweaking will continue throughout design
  • The weastern areas are in the same geographic area as chapter 1. Players will be able to return to some areas like the waste to complete the side quest there. The ruined village is also accessible and the dead bodies have turned to skeletons or scattered bones. The buildings are a bit more ruined and collapsed. About 4 to 5 areas are in the plans that haven't been created yet.
  • The swamp area is nearly completed. This will use an overland map to explore the swamp and add to it size while making it manageable to both design and explore. A vendor will be at the entrance to sell items to help survive the swamp and offer a quest about a giant alligator terrorizing the area. Just waiting for the alligator model, right now I have a eight legged alligator using the basilisk model. 
  • The eastern area is only a concept at this point and nothing has been done in the toolset. This area will include the end battle area, which should provide a unique ending.
Design Delays?

I have recently download Fallout 3 from steam and I've been spending too many night fighting the horrors of a apocalyptic wasteland. To make matters worse I have found the Fallout 3 nexus and all sorts of mods for the game.

So that is what is happening. Chapter 2 is going forward, it is about a 1/4 completed (maybe, very rough estimate). Once the main hub conversations are done (or mostly done) I will be back to area design.